The quick and simple way to approve or deny orders in iCompleat

You might have received an email alert letting you know you have an order to approve, or you might have opened your Awaiting Approval tray and spotted orders waiting for your thumbs up.

Either way, the article is here to help. Here, we guide you through everything you need to know about approving and denying orders, including exactly what happens after you hit Approve or Deny.

 

1. Open the order

1. On the homepage, click Orders.
2. Go to the Awaiting Approval tray, and click the order to approve.
3. The order summary appears.

 

2 - Order summary

The order summary page gives you an overview of all the key details on the order. It's good practice to review everything on this page before you make the decision to approve or deny the order.

If you feel like you need more detailed information before you can make that decision, click Documents and Timeline in the bottom-right (more information on that useful page in a moment).

 

Header

 

The Header preview on the order generally includes the following key information, but may be more detailed depending on the fields enabled on the order layout:

• Order title
• Supplier
• Supplier's ordering email address, if not ordering through Integrated Online Buying
• Layout used
• Date order created
• Delivery address
• Delivery date (not generated by iCompleat)
• Any codes applied at header level (eg. tax, currency)

 

Lines

 

The Lines preview on the order summary generally includes the following information, but my vary depending on the configuration of the order layout:

 

• Item number
• Item description
• Unit cost
• Quantity
• Net
• VAT
• Gross
• Any codes applied at line level (eg. tax, account code)

 

Order summary actions

There are some additional actions you can take to help future approvers and your other colleagues in iCompleat, like adding comments to the order or attaching relevant documents. This can help give orders a more detailed audit trail.

 

View/Add notes

Go to Actions in the bottom-right, and click Notes to attach a short note that other iCompleat users with access to the order can view from their tray. This includes both past and future approvers of the order.

You can also view notes added by order creators and previous approvers here.

 

 

You can now type a brief note and add an icon to make the note stand out. Just click the Add Note button when you're finished.

 

 

Your note will be immediately visible next to the orderfor other iCompleat users. If you added an icon, it'll look something like this in the tray:

 

 

When a user clicks the icon, your note will pop up like this:

 

 

Attach a document

You can attach a document to the order containing relevant information that might be useful to other approvers and users, and to add value to the order's audit trail.

This can include another order, invoice price quote, statement, email conversation, delivery note, expense receipt, or any other related document.

To attach a document, go to Actions in the bottom-right corner, and click Add attachments.

 

 

A popup appears with a Select Files... button that lets you browse your computer to find a document to upload. Once you've selected a file, you choose the Attachment type from the drop-down, and click the upload button.

File names of any attachments added by previous approvers or order creators appear under Attachments at the bottom of the pop-up.

 

 

You can add multiple documents if you like. Once they're added, they'll be listed at the bottom of the popup, with a red cross (X) icon next to them in case you want to delete them.

 

 

Like notes, attachments are visible to other relevant users as soon as you've added them, without you needing to approve or deny the order first. Other users with access to the orders will see a number beneath the paper clip column in their invoice tray telling them how many attachments are available, like this:

 

 

Clicking the number of attachments lets them see a preview of the attachment, with the option to view it full screen, or jump to the order summary or Documents and Timeline page.

 

 

Create a duplicate

If you have the permission to create orders in iCompleat, you'll see the Create duplicate option in the order's Actions menu.

 

 

After you click this option, an exact copy of the order is created, and you are taken to the duplicate order's editing page, where you can enter a title for the new order, add and edit lines as normal, and submit the order for approval.

 

 

 

3. Documents and Timeline

If you want to see the order's full audit trail before making your decision, you can click Documents and Timeline in the bottom-right corner of the summary page.

 

 

You'll see the order's timeline in iCompleat on the right, including details of the person who created the order, the date and time it was created, and any previous users who have already approved the order.

You can also select any supporting documents from the drop-down above the left-hand pane to see a preview.

 

 

4. Approve or deny the order

You can approve or deny the order from either the invoice summary, or the Documents and Timeline page.

Just click Approve or Deny at the bottom of either page. You'll then see a message asking you to confirm your choice.

If you'd like to add a comment supporting your decision, click the arrow within the Approve or Deny button, and then click Approve/Deny with comment.

 

 

Just enter your comment in the box, and click the button to confirm your choice.

 

 

What happens next?

After you approve an invoice, it goes straight to your Approved tray. Other iCompleat users who have had contact with the invoice will also see it in their Approved trays.

If there are other approvers after you in the workflow, they'll now see it in their Awaiting Approval tray, and there will be a record of you approving it on the Documents and Timeline.

If you're the last approver in the workflow, that means the order is fully approved, and will be assigned an order number, which will be visible in the tray.

A fully approved order can now be submitted to the supplier. Depending on how your Administrator has configured orders to be sent, the order will either be automatically submitted to the supplier via email or, If the order was created using Integrated Online Buying, a user with the correct permissions will submit the order online.

 

 Still got questions? Comment below and let us know how we can improve this article.